Blog #24: Research Proposal, Research Questions & Annotated Bibliography

RESEARCH PROPOSAL AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BNW

Research Proposal: In Brave New World, scientists talk about the perfection of mankind and improving society, but the citizens don’t have a choice on how they improve it. The scientists take away the freedom to choose, and shows that no one is sad or unhappy with the lifestyle they were designed to live. My topic will be about the different perspectives of freedom in the World State and the Savage Reservation, as well as their goals.

Reasearch Questions:

1.     How important is freedom of choice?

2.     What does it mean to be human? 

3.     What are the ultimate goals of human society?

 Peter Kociba

Nichole Wilson

English IVB

25 March 2015

To be Human and To Be Free

Segran, Elizabeth. "How To Intentionally Design A Happier Life." Fast Company. Fast Company &   Inc, 12 Feb. 2015. Web.

As we grow up into adulthood, you would think we would be able tell whether or not we’re happy, but to tell you the truth, judging our own happiness can be difficult. There is often a disconnection between what our brains tell us and what we actually feel. Paul Dolan says "We tell stories about the things we think should make us happy, but sometimes, when we look a bit closer, we’re not really that happy at all." Perhaps you think you’re happy because you’ve just gotten engaged and after a series of best wishes, it may not register to you that you’re anxious about moving in with your partner. Therefore, Dolan concludes that thoughtful, driven people spend so long reflecting about what makes a meaningful life, they sometimes lose sight of what actually feels good to them on a daily basis, and ties with my research question of what being human means.

Landau, Elizabeth. "Why Happiness Is Healthy - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 25 Dec. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.

Happiness -- you know it when you see it, but it's hard to put it into words. You might call it a sense of well-being, optimism, or even life satisfaction. But whatever happiness is, we know that we want it, and that is just somehow good. We also know that we don't always have control over our happiness. The author suggests that happiness makes peoples’ lives much better and gives us the optimism for each day. In a study of people older than 60 who enjoyed life less were more likely to develop a disability. In other words, how we feel about life and ourselves affects how happy we feel in the future.

Brooks, Arthur C. "Free People Are Happy People." City Journal. N.p., Spring 2008. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.

Brooks suggests that in order for us to be happy, we have to be free. The earliest American definition of liberty is about constraints on personal actions: if I don’t hurt anybody else, I should be free to pursue my own will. The idea is that The Founders believed that freedom was one of at least three fundamental rights from God, along with life and the pursuit of happiness. These three rights are connected: not only does liberty, of course, depend on life, but the pursuit of happiness depends on liberty. In a way the freedoms and laws we have were to keep us happy and keep our slates clean.

 

Biswas-Diener, Robert, and Todd B. Kashdan. "What Happy People Do Differently." Psychology Today. N.p., 19 June 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.

According to Biswas-Diener and Kashdan, the secret of happiness is a concern of growing importance in the modern era. We are no longer hunter-gatherers, so to speak, concerned with where to find the next kill, but in truth, we worry instead about how to live our best lives. In a study of more than 10,000 participants from 48 countries, psychologists Ed Diener of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Shigehiro Oishi of the University of Virginia discovered that people from every corner of the globe rated happiness as being more important than other highly desirable personal outcomes, such as having meaning in life, becoming rich, and getting into heaven. This information helps tie together my research question of what the ultimate goals of humans in society.

 

Keyes, Alan. "Freedom Means Having The Choice, Liberty Means Using It To Do Right." The Daily Caller. N.p., 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.

According to Keyes, is that humanity abuses the power of freedom throughout our lives. Our nation wants order, but we also need happiness to balance the order. In other words, even though a government passes a new law, we can’t force this change on people who have a different set of morals and choices. For the research question on the importance of freedom of choice, it is expressed that we are given this right to express ourselves, yet others take advantage and abuse the power before them. We aim to bring the world together in peace, but our morals, greed, and our own choices in life that prevent us from moving forward.

Blog #23: Research Paper Final Topic Selection & Final Graphic Organizers

Brave New World Topic Selection My Essential Questions: Freedom & Happiness: How important is freedom of choice? When should one give up freedom of choice? Humanity/Society: What does it mean to be human? What are the ultimate goals of human society? My Final Topic Selection & Why I Chose It/Connection to Brave New World -- I will be writing about the different perspectives of freedom and ultimate goals in their society in Brave New World. In "How to Intentionally design a Happier Life," Elizabeth Segran says "It takes a lot of energy to be constantly thinking about whether or not [you're] happy. This is why most of us adopt a philosophy about what goes into meaningful life—such as finding satisfying work, getting married, having kids—then we stop wondering whether we are happy." In Brave New World, The World State stripped its citizens of their emotions through positive and negative reinforcement after being artificially born and 'created to follow a specific job. They forced the citizens to hate things such as flowers and books, so that they want nothing more than what the World State offers through the physiological need to belong and self-actualization of purpose in each caste they were assigned. Although the citizens have no freedom to choose what they want because they believe they already have what they want. Yellow – Iceberg View of Culture (Concepts of food, concepts of self, concept of past and future) Blue – Outside sources to reinforce connection to BNW Green – Maslow’s Hierarchy  BNW Quotations  Maslow Iceberg   "They'll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an 'instinctive' hatred of books and flowers. Reflexes unalterably conditioned. They'll be safe from books and botany all their lives." The Director turned to his nurses. "Take them away again." (2.22) Physiological Esteem social interaction rate rules of conduct Ideals of childbearing(partially?)  "We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or […] future Directors of Hatcheries." (1.13) Esteem Safety tone of voice social interaction rate  "Stability," said the Controller, "stability. No civilization without social stability. No social stability without individual stability." His voice was a trumpet. Listening they felt larger, warmer. (3.42) Physiological Safety Love/belonging  patterns of handling emotions roles in relation to class notions of leadership Alphas are so conditioned that they do not have to be infantile in their emotional behaviour. But that is all the more reason for their making a special effort to conform. It is their duty to be infantile, even against their inclination. (6.2.98) Love/Belonging Safety social interaction rate roles in relation to class and occupation "But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin." "In fact," said Mustapha Mond, "you're claiming the right to be unhappy." "All right then," said the Savage defiantly, "I'm claiming the right to be unhappy."  (17.240) Physiological Self-actualization Love/belonging  concept of past and future definition of insanity facial expressions

Blog #22: "Home and the Family" Socratic Discussion Preparation

Part 1: 3x3 plot exercise

The Alpha Troy- Limited Awareness

Family falls apart- Consequences

Infant Repairs wounds- Resurrection/ Final Attempt

Part 2: Fences Questions

1. In the stage directions for act 1, scene 1, Wilson describes Troy as “a large man with thick, heavy hands; it is this largeness that he strives to fill out and make an accommodation with.” How does this description establish the character of Troy? Hard-working, strong and prone to telling compelling, fanciful stories and twisting the truth, Troy is the family breadwinner and plays the dominant role in his over thirty-year friendship with fellow sanitation worker, Jim Bono. Troy is a tragic-hero who has excessive pride for his breadwinning role. Troy was also a former baseball star in the Negro Leagues. Troy's athletic ability diminished before the Major Leagues accepted blacks. Troy's years of hard-work for only meager progress depress him. Troy often fails to provide the love and support that would mean the most to his loved ones. He insists that his son Cory abandon his dream of playing football and learn a trade. Troy loves his wife, maintains a cool distance from his children, and actively protests discrimination at his workplace. He entertains and inspires his friend Jim Bono with his combination of jovial vulgarity and wisdom, and he seeks to rediscover lost passion with a mistress, Alberta. Later, he becomes a disturbed, angry man, causing his friends and family to desert him.

1.   Is the character of Troy Maxson believable/realistic? Use textual evidence to defend your answer. I would say that that Troy Maxson’s character is believable because he’s like the common tragic hero. For one thing, like every tragic hero, Troy has a clear-cut case of hamartia. This word is commonly translated from the Greek as "tragic flaw"; however, a more direct translation is "missing of the mark." That's a perfect way to describe almost everything Troy Maxson does in Fences. Troy's relationship with his son Cory is a good example of how he misses the mark. Cory is overjoyed because he's been selected for a college football scholarship. Like his father, Cory loves sports, and this is his one chance to go to college. Troy, however, is dead-set against Cory going off to play football. One of the greatest sources of disappointment in Troy's life is the fact that he wasn't allowed to play pro baseball. Though he was a homerun king of the Negro Leagues, he couldn't graduate to the majors because of racial discrimination. Troy refuses to let his son play football, claiming that he doesn't want Cory to suffer from the same sort of heartache. Everyone around Troy tries to make him see that times have changed, and that Cory will have a better chance. His wife Rose tells him, "They got lots of colored boys playing ball now. Baseball and football" (1.1.152). Troy's best friend, Bono, says, "Times have changed, Troy, you just come along too early" (1.1.153). Cory points out to his father several current black baseball players, like the famous Hank Aaron. Troy dismisses all of this and tells his son, "The white man ain't gonna let you get nowhere with that football noway" (1.3.123). Though he used be able to knock a baseball out of the park like it was nothing, he constantly "misses the mark" in his personal life. Like most tragic heroes, Troy does whatever he thinks is right. Even though the people around him warn him that the things he's doing may have tragic consequences, he stubbornly pursues his own course of action.

1. What role does Bono play in the development of Troy’s character? Pick a scene that you think shows Bono’s role most clearly, and then explain. Bono admits that he's always admired Troy, and that he's learned a lot by following him. He says, "I done learned a whole heap of things about life watching you. I done learned how to tell where the shit lies. How to tell it from the alfalfa" (2.1.60-62). Bono also tells his friend, "You done learned me a lot of things. You showed me how to not make the same mistakes...to take life as it comes along and keep putting one foot in front of the other" (2.1.62-63). With lines like that, it seems like Bono is definitely the sidekick in this situation. What's interesting, though, is that by the end of the play Bono and Troy don't really hang out anymore. It's never said outright, but it seems pretty clear that this is because of Troy's affair with Alberta. From the very first scene, Bono is trying to steer Troy away from this sexy lady. Troy, however, doesn't listen and has the affair anyway. The last time we see the two friends together, it's clear they don't chill anymore. Troy's promotion to driver has separated them at work, and Troy's betrayal of Rose has separated them on a personal level. It seems the affair damaged Bono's admiration of Troy. In the end, Troy hasn't just lost his family; he's lost his best friend.

1. Is Troy a hypocrite? Do his relationships with Alberta and Cory make his assertions regarding family responsibilities and duty ring false? In my opinion, Troy is a hypocrite. He is very confident that he is better than many of the people around him and also believes he is better than most major league baseball players but couldn’t make it in the big leagues because he is black. He is often drunk and tends to tell extremely exaggerated stories until someone calls him out, mostly Rose, his wife. His son Cory is a great football player in high school yet Troy refuses to let the recruiters come talk to him. He represents a theme in the play of a parent being worried that their children will out do them. Troy also gets very angry and disrespectful when he doesn’t get his way. He asked Rose what time she was going to be home one day and when she didn’t know he said, “I just asked you a question, woman. What’s that the matter… can’t I ask you a question?” (2.2.31). He is also a hypocrite because he had just refused to tell Rose when he was coming home. This is also seen in Act 2, Scene 3. "She's my daughter, Rose. My own flesh and blood. I can't deny her no more than I can deny them boys." (2.3.16). this shows both Troy's responsibility and irresponsibility; instead of running away or denying that he fathered the baby, he accepts the reality. Of course, this quote is ironic and shows Troy as a hypocrite. Although Troy says he cannot "deny his boys," he denies Cory a chance to become a successful athlete. He is not responsible to his family, particularly to his wife, when he goes off to spend time with Alberta and says that he has gone to Taylor's to watch the ball game.

1. When Cory returns after Troy’s death, he tells Rose, “I can’t drag Papa with me everywhere I go. I’ve got to say no to him”(Act 2.5.110). What finally convinces Cory to attend Troy’s funeral? What does his attending the funeral suggest about what Cory’s future might hold and what kind of home and family he will have? Has he said “no” to his father? After his father's death, Cory refuses to attend the funeral. When asked why, he replies, "I can't drag Papa with me everywhere I go. I've got to say no to him." (2.5.111). For his whole life Cory has been patronized and disrespected by his father. His first attempt at rebellion was to play football, but his father called the coach and made him quit the team. Now Cory realizes he doesn't want to always be forced to comply with what his father wants him to do. He needs to be independent from his father. Rose realizes this too, after Troy comes home with a baby that isn't hers. Rose agrees to care for it, but tells Troy, "From right now...you a womanless man." (2.3.24). Rose also realizes that she can't spend her life serving a man who doesn't respect her, and decides at that moment that she is through with him. Both major characters in Troy's life shut him out after they realize they can't handle it anymore. Cory hopes to finally become his own man by not going to his father's funeral. He thinks this will somehow symbolically distinguish him from the man that still overshadows his life. Rose sees this as outright disrespect. She lectures her son, saying that it won't help make Cory into his own man.

1. What do you think is the climax of Fences? Explain your reasoning. The climax of Fences, in my opinion is when Troy and Cory’s reaches the breaking point as Cory is given  a strike after he makes a mistake of not keeping up with his chores and getting a job at the A&P according to Troy. Cory wants to play football, but Troy talked to his Coach to kick him off the team and not let him play anymore.  Instead of getting a real reason what he did wrong Troy responds was that “...you (Cory) swung at the ball and didn’t hit it/” (1.4.344) meaning he had his chance to do something with his life and he blew it.

1. Wilson has described Fences as having a “blues aesthetic.” Songs, and particularly the blues, play an important role in Wilson’s plays. Where do you see the influence of the blues on Fences? Is it in the diction? The syntax? The themes? The structure? Or does it show itself in some other way? In the play Fences, it is structured somewhat like a blues song. The play all takes place in one place like a key of music and the characters each have their own rhythm and melody that Wilson riffs off of around the common locale. Characters repeat phrases, or pass phrases around, like a blues band with a line of melody. Similar to the role of repeated lyrics and melody of a blues song, Wilson's characters display changes in their life and a changed attitude toward life by repeating scenarios in which they act. For instance, Friday, Troy's payday, is the setting of three scenes. By mirroring the situation in which events in the play take place, we can observe the change that occurs from one instance to the next. For instance in Act One, Scene one, Troy and Bono come home after payday as best friends worried about Troy's future. In Act One, Scene Four, Troy and Bono celebrate after payday because Troy won his discrimination case, but Bono is more concerned that Troy will ruin his life with his extramarital affair. Troy comes home after payday in Act Two, Scene Four, estranged from Bono and his family. He drinks and sings to comfort himself. By now, the good days of the play's first scene seem far-gone. This is a way playwrights manipulate the sense of time in a play, but for Wilson in particular, the repeated events and language of the play are in keeping what he calls a "blues aesthetic."

1. The character of Gabriel has puzzled readers, audiences, and even directors; on even suggested that he be dropped from the script to keep from confusing audiences. Some see him as a spiritual presence with a visible link to the African past. What elements of plot and character depend on him? Explain how you do or do not see Gabriel as essential to Fences. Include the final scene in your interpretation.   Despite Gabriel not being around for most of the play, he plays a bigger role than we could all imagine. Gabriel suffered a head wound during World War II and now has a metal plate in his head. The man thinks he is the archangel Gabriel. Throughout the play he's gone around talking about judgment day. Gabriel always carries around a trumpet and says St. Peter told him to blow the horn when it's time to open heaven's gates for the Day of Judgment. When he talks to his brother Troy in riddles about hellhounds and St. Peter in Act One, Scene Two, Gabe seems to observe Troy's fates with clarity. He tries, in his playful language, to warn Troy of his tragic fate. So Gabriel decides that the day of his brother's funeral is the Day of Judgment for everybody. He triumphantly raises the trumpet to his mouth and blows as hard as he can. Sadly, nothing comes out. Stage directions tell us that "There is a weight of impossible description that falls away and leaves him bare and exposed to a frightful realization" (2.5.217). We're not told exactly what this realization might be, but we suspect Gabriel may have just realized that he's not actually an angel.

1. How do biblical allusions, mythological allusions and cultural allusions develop characterization and the meaning of the work as a whole?At Troy’s funeral, when Gabriel's trumpet fails to make a sound; you could interpret it as Christianity itself failing him. When Gabriel begins his dance, he reaches within himself and finds a dance hidden inside him, a dance buried by centuries of white oppression. This idea that African Americans should reach beyond the Christian tradition they grew up in and find the strength of their African-ness is found in many of Wilson's plays. Gabriel caps off his tribal dance with a wild and howling song. By the time he's finished, we're told that the "the gates of heaven stand open as wide as God's closet" (1.5.222). It looks like Gabriel has opened the way for his brother by finding the place in him that's still connected in some instinctual way to Africa. It's quite powerful that Wilson chooses to end his mostly realistic play with this moment of magic. In the play's final seconds, the characters reach beyond their hard-scrabble lives and briefly touch the divine.

Part 3: Essential Questions

1.      What makes a house a home?

When you first move into a house, it’s empty and missing, which could say memories and personality. A house doesn’t have to be extravagant just make it a home. All you need are friends and family to help make memories. A home is like a job for an invisible person. It provides shelter from the elements, heat/cold air, and to let people settle down and take care of it. As long as you care about the house, it’s a home.

2.      In what ways does the suffering or success of one family member affect the others? If the breadwinner of the family like Troy for example, actually succeeded, his family would be affected positively and life would probably improve for them. Unfortunately, he’s black and opportunity didn’t come knocking at his door for a new future. Being the provider of the family can be just as stressful as the job, even if Troy was just a garbage man.

3.      How do traditions help define family

They help us move emotionally from one place to another; they ease pain, acknowledge growth, and create connection. Most parents discover early on that traditions like bedtime stories and goodbye hugs make separations easier and provide security. Or taking a picture on the first day of school and carving pumpkins together at Halloween help children integrate the changes of the year. Families not only have treasured traditions, they constantly evolve new ones that help them find their way through the inevitable changes of growing up, but you aren't consciously "creating" traditions.  Your family is naturally developing them. The way you celebrate birthdays or mark anniversaries, the way you say goodbye to each other every morning or shop for fall clothes each school year; anything repeated is a tradition, the stuff of which memories are made. You don't need anything fancy, just love.  What creates a tradition is revisiting it year after year, updating as your child gets older.

A. Your Questions

1. We're told that Gabriel begins "A slow, strange dance, eerie, and life-giving. A dance of atavistic signature and ritual" (2.5.219). What do you think makes this strange dance so atavistic? And how would this compare to the theme of Langston Hughes “When I Grew Older”.  In case you didn't know, "atavistic" means "reverting to or suggesting the characteristics of a remote ancestor or primitive type". The word "primitive," and even "atavistic," can have offensive or racist meanings when it refers to race. But I don't think Wilson means anything like that; we think he means something closer to "the return of a trait or recurrence of a previous behavior after a period of absence"

2. Cory hopes to finally become his own man by not going to his father's funeral. He thinks this will somehow symbolically distinguish him from the man that still overshadows his life. Rose sees this as outright disrespect. She lectures her son, saying that it won't help make Cory into his own man. What do you think? Does Cory owe it to his father to attend the funeral? Does he owe it to himself? Which choice might best help Cory to become his own man?

3. Discuss the significance of the title, Fences, as it relates to characters and themes of the play.

Bono explains to Cory and Troy the reason for Rose's request for them to build a fence as an outside observer. Bono observes that Rose wants them to build the fence because she wants her loved ones kept close to her. Bono also explains that some people build fences to push people away. Bono is the only one who knows about Troy's affair with Alberta, which he believes will destroy the bonds of the Maxson family. Bono turns the action of building the fence into a metaphor of behavior that defines the central conflict of the play. Troy pushes Cory and Rose away while Rose and Cory try to live up to Troy's expectations and meet his demands. Wilson's writing emphasizes the Maxson family's roots in slavery with symbols, themes and storytelling. Wilson's title, Fences stands for larger boundaries than the ones created physically and emotionally in the Maxson household. The symbol of the fence also alludes to geographical boundaries and legal boundaries. Troy's last name attests to this as an amalgamation of the Mason-Dixon Line that, starting in 1820 was the term used to describe the imaginary line separating the slave states from the Free states. The title, Fences refers to the choices Wilson's characters make with their lives in their fair or unfair treatment of others.

Blog #21 Fences Fishbowl Blog Discussion: Negro baseball League

Fences Fishbowl Research

2.  Negro baseball League

• African-Americans began to play baseball in the late 1800s
• In the nineteenth century (and before), blacks were prohibited from playing professional baseball in white major and minor leagues.
• Between the end of the Civil War and 1890, quite a number of African-Americans played alongside white athletes on minor league and major league teams during the period, although the original National Association of Base Ball Players, formed in 1867, had banned black athletes
• They formed their own baseball leagues, and the initial baseball game between two black teams was held in 1859, in the state of New York.
• The two teams were the Henson Baseball Club of Jamaica of Queens and the Unknowns of Brooklyn (defeated).
• By the late 1870s several African-American players were active on the rosters of white, minor league teams. Most of these players fell victim to regional prejudices and an unofficial color ban after brief stays with white teams, but some notable exceptions built long and solid careers in white professional baseball.
• Eventually found their way to professional teams with white players, however, racism and “Jim Crow” laws forced them from these teams. Thus, black players formed their own units, “barnstorming” around the country to play anyone who would challenge them.
•  In 1945, Major League Baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers recruited Jackie Robinson.
•  Robinson became the first African-American to play on a Major League team.
• While this historic event was a key moment in baseball and civil rights history, it prompted the decline of the Negro Leagues. The best black players were now recruited for the Major Leagues, and black fans followed.
• Integration of black and white players did not succeed until 1945.
• As World War II came to a close and the demands for social justice swelled throughout the country (bring down the color barrier). Not only had African-Americans proven themselves on the battlefield and seized an indisputable moral claim to an equal share in American life, the stars of the black baseball had proven their skills in venues like the East-West Classic and countless exhibition games against major league stars.
• By 1952 there were 150 black players in organized baseball, and the "cream of the crop" had been lured from Negro League rosters to the integrated minors and majors.

Works Cited

"Negro Leagues Baseball Museum." Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2015.

"Negro League History 101 - An Introduction To The Negro Leagues." Negro League History 101 - An Introduction To The Negro Leagues. The Negro League Baseball Shop, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2015.

"Negro League." History Net Where History Comes Alive World US History Online RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2015.

http://nlbm.com/s/history.htm

http://www.negroleaguebaseball.com/history101.html

http://www.historynet.com/negro-league

Blog #20: Their Eyes Were Watching God Socratic Discussion #2 "Three Tasks"

Task 1: THE BILDUNGSROMAN

Janie’s arranged marriage

Janie marries Jody

Saved by Teacake

Task 2:

THEME: Identity

	POEM: BLACK WALNUT   TREE	THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
Who are you?	“...we could sell the black walnut tree to the lumberman, and pay off the mortgage.” “What my mother and I both know   is that we'd crawl with shame   in the emptiness we'd made   in our own and our fathers' backyard.” They are worried that if they sell the tree, the yard will seem ‘empty’ and disappoint the father’s hard work to make the yard beautiful, but if they don’t do something, the tree will ruin their home.	“Ah was born back due in slavery so it wasn’t for me to fulfill my dreams of whut a woman oughta be and to do. Dat’s one of de hold-backs of slavery. But nothing can’t stop you from wishin’. You can’t beat nobody down so low till you can rob ‘em of they will. Ah didn’t want to be used for a work-ox and a brood-sow and Ah didn’t want mah daughter used dat way neither. It sho wasn’t mah will for things to happen lak they did. Ah even hated de way you was born. But, all de same Ah said thank God, Ah got another chance-Freedom found me wid a baby daughter in mah arms, so Ah said Ah’d take a broom and a cook-pot and throw up a highway through de wilderness for her.” (16)   Slavery, obviously, is confining. Nanny was born into it and It kept her from fulfilling her dreams and taking action to bring black women more respect. However, though slavery physically shackled her, Nanny claims that it couldn’t chain up a person’s will and wishes. She wants the best for Janie.
What are you going to do?	“So the black walnut tree swings through another year of sun and leaping winds, of leaves and bounding fruit, and, month after month, the whip crack of the mortgage.” In the end they decided to keep the tree after dreaming of her [Mary Oliver’s] father’s work of the orchards they had planted. Oliver explains what she and her mother both know, “that we’d crawl with shame/ in the emptiness we’d made,” since it was a family effort to make something beautiful. Thus, the tree remains where it is despite the future problems it may cause.	“Janie pulled back a long time because he [Joe] did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance.” (29)   Joe’s entire philosophy on life is to discount God and take your fate into your hands. He believes that men make their destinies. Joe represents the "far horizon...” change and chance" because he believes in striking out, full of ambition and making your way in the world.

 

The theme I have chosen goes with theme of Identity in The Black Walnut Tree and TEWWG. The theme of identity helps us understand who we are and what we are going to do. For example when Luke Skywalker discovers he is a Jedi, he begins his journey to understand the ways of the Force and bring balance to the galaxy. In The Black Walnut Tree, the mother and daughter are in a difficult choice of whether or not to remove the black walnut tree from their yard. They say “...we could sell the black walnut tree to the lumberman, and pay off the mortgage.” But, “we'd [mother and daughter] crawl with shame   in the emptiness we'd made   in our own and our fathers' backyard.” They are worried that if they sell the tree, the yard will seem ‘empty’ and disappoint the father’s hard work to make the yard beautiful, but if they don’t do something, the tree will ruin their home. In the end “...the black walnut tree swings through another year of sun and leaping winds...” they decided to keep the tree after Oliver dreams of her father’s work on the orchards they had planted. In TEWWG, “[Nanny] was born back due in slavery so it wasn’t for me to fulfill my dreams of whut a woman oughta be- But nothing can’t stop you from wishin’. Ah didn’t want to be used for a work-ox and a brood-sow and Ah didn’t want mah daughter used dat way neither.” Nanny was only a slave to others and slavery kept her from fulfilling her dreams and taking action to bring black women more respect. However, even though slavery physically shackled her, a person’s will and wishes can’t be shackled. She wants the best for Janie, when she chose her to be married to Logan Killicks. Janie obliged, but soon after, Nanny has passed on, and Janie questions whether or not love is real.

Task 3: HAMLET COMPARISON/CONTRAST

	Hamlet	Their Eyes Were Watching God
How are Polonious and Nanny similar/different in how they treat their dependents?	“Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister, and keep you in the rear of your affection, out of the shot and danger of desire. The chariest maid is prodigal enough, If she unmask her beauty to the moon: virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes: the canker galls the infants of the spring, Too oft before their buttons be disclosed, and in the morn and liquid dew of youth contagious blastments are most imminent. Be wary then; best safety lies in fear: Youth to itself rebels, though none else near. (1.3.3)	“She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage!” (2.11).

 

Even though both sorties take place in different timelines and places, the treatment of women in both stories are similar. Hamlet and Ophelia's love for each other confuses me, though love in Denmark is but a mere rumor in the upper-class during those times. Despite Ophelia being a grown woman, she is still warned of the dangers of going along with these temptations by her brother and father. When Laertes insists that Ophelia should fear premarital sex because a "deflowered" woman is seen as damaged goods that no man will want to marry. This speech is also full of vivid innuendo, as when he compares intercourse to a "canker" worm invading and injuring a delicate flower before its buds, or "buttons," have had time to open (1.3.3). Then Polonius enters the scene and discusses what she wants cannot happen due her upper-class status. “I do know, when the blood burns, how prodigal the soul lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter, giving more light than heat, extinct in both, even in their promise, as it is a-making, you must not take for fire.” (1.3.4)Polonius agrees with Ophelia’s brother that her love for Hamlet will ‘damage’ her so to speak. In TEWWG, it’s almost the same thing with Janie and her pear tree. “She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage!” (2.11) to naïve little Janie. The penetration of the bee into the bloom is a "love embrace" whose "ecstatic shiver" creates a "creaming in every blossom and a frothing of delight." This experience, ironically, both seems to take Janie’s virginity by introducing her to sexual intercourse, and also preserve her innocence by building such a romantic ideal for her future lovers to live up to. Janie wanted so much from her future love, Nanny was worried about Janie’s well-being and forced her into an arranged marriage with Logan. Simply because Nanny tells her so, Janie assumes that marriage entails love. She assumes that after she marries Logan, she will magically wake up one day and love him. Some might read this as a defense mechanism, something to help her justify the obvious unfairness of being forced to marry someone she doesn’t love. However, when love does not come after three months, Janie begins to doubt whether or not the love she wants is real.

Blog #19: Their Eyes Were Watching God Socratic Discussion #1 "Say, Mean, Matter" Chart

Blog #18: Hamlet Final Essay